Living in Essex Junction, VT

Chittenden County

Essex Junction is Vermont's newest and 10th city -- a real, genuinely significant governance change this record discloses precisely: the city separated from the surrounding Town of Essex following a 3,070-411 vote on November 2, 2021, with the split becoming official on July 1, 2022 and full municipal-service separation completing on July 1, 2023, the first full municipal separation in Vermont in 100 years. Essex Junction is part of the Burlington, VT metropolitan area, and is home to a real, historically significant semiconductor manufacturing anchor: GlobalFoundries' Fab 9 facility, Vermont's largest private employer, tracing to IBM's decades-long ownership of the plant before its sale to GlobalFoundries closed on July 1, 2015. This record discloses Essex Junction's honest 2026 picture directly rather than treating it as either a flawless Burlington suburb or a generic small New England city. On the real strength side: unemployment ran genuinely low (approximately 1.9%), median household income ran approximately 18.8% above this project's national comparison figure, homeowners insurance ran approximately 60.5% below this project's national comparison figure, and Essex Junction hosts genuine, in-city healthcare access (UVM Health Network primary and pediatric care) alongside its own Amtrak station and the system's highest-ridership Green Mountain Transit bus route. On the honest challenge side: Vermont's graduated state income tax reaches a real, current top marginal rate of 8.75%, Essex Junction's own cited median effective property tax rate (approximately 2.48%) runs above both the Vermont statewide median (~1.92%) and this project's ~1.02% national comparison figure, cost-of-living citations carried a real, disclosed, wide cross-source spread (13%-33% above the national average), the city's cited median home sale price (~$625,000) runs approximately 53% above this project's national comparison figure, and Essex Junction sits directly on the Winooski River, which crested at 22.56 feet during Vermont's catastrophic July 2023 statewide flooding -- the third-highest crest on record at that gauge. This record states Essex Junction's honest 2026 picture directly: a genuinely job-rich, transit-connected Burlington-metro city with a real, recent, notable governance transformation and a genuine semiconductor-industry identity, weighed honestly against a genuinely high tax and cost-of-living burden and a real, documented Winooski River flood risk.

Explore Essex Junction in depth

• Moving to Essex Junction: Pros, Cons & What to Know
• Cost of Living in Essex Junction
• Housing Market in Essex Junction
• Buying a Home in Essex Junction
• Renting in Essex Junction
• Property Taxes in Essex Junction
• Taxes in Essex Junction
• Homeowners Insurance in Essex Junction
• Flood & Hurricane Risk in Essex Junction
• Climate & Weather in Essex Junction
• Jobs & Economy in Essex Junction
• Schools in Essex Junction
• Crime & Safety in Essex Junction
• Healthcare in Essex Junction
• Traffic & Transportation in Essex Junction
• Best Areas to Live in Essex Junction
• Pros and Cons of Living in Essex Junction
• Who Should / Shouldn’t Move to Essex Junction
• Who Should NOT Move to Essex Junction?
• Retiring in Essex Junction
• Living in Essex Junction for Families
• Living in Essex Junction for Remote Workers
• Is Essex Junction a Good Place to Live?

Housing

Taxes

The tradeoffs

Who this fits

Best for: Best fits movers whose specific priorities align with Essex Junction's real strengths -- a genuinely low unemployment rate, above-national median household income, a career or affiliation tied to GlobalFoundries' Fab 9 or the wider Burlington-metro UVM Health Network/university ecosystem, real in-city transit access (Amtrak, GMT's highest-ridership bus route), and genuinely low homeowners insurance costs -- and who take the city's honestly-disclosed challenges (a genuinely high state income tax and property tax rate, a wide-cross-source-disclosed high cost of living, and a real, documented Winooski River flood risk) seriously enough to research current, address-specific data (including FEMA flood-zone status) directly before committing to a specific Essex Junction property.

Maybe not for you if: Probably not the right fit for anyone specifically seeking the lowest possible state income tax or property tax rate, given Vermont's 8.75% top marginal income-tax rate and Essex Junction's own cited median effective property tax rate (~2.48%) running above both the Vermont statewide median and this project's national comparison figure. Anyone seeking the most affordable possible housing market, given Essex Junction's cited median home sale price running approximately 53% above this project's national comparison figure and cost-of-living citations running 13%-33% above the national average. Anyone highly risk-averse to river/flash-flood risk should research a specific target property's current FEMA flood-zone status directly, given the Winooski River's real, documented July 2023 crest of 22.56 feet at Essex Junction -- standard homeowners policies typically exclude flood damage. Anyone requiring strong confidence in a single, precise, undisputed crime-rate figure, given this record's disclosed cross-source spread on Essex Junction's overall crime rate.